"Strange!" exclaimed the boy, holding it up before him. "This shows that we are not the first persons who have traversed this section."
"I wonder that we do not see more savages."
"Isn't it beautiful?" said Elwood, turning the blanket over and examining its texture and designs. It was indeed handsome and very valuable, resembling much the famous blankets made by the Apache Indians. It was fully a half-inch in thickness, so compactly knit together as to be water-proof. Its border and the design of the figures were a miracle of skill in color and combination. Every hue of the rainbow seemed reproduced in the most pleasing combinations. The center-piece was a figure of the sun which, with the rays radiating from it, was of a most intense yellow, while around the border were pictured all the fruits that any one has ever heard as being indigenous to California.
"That must be very valuable," said Howard.
"It is so heavy it tires my arms to hold it."
"That same thing would bring yez five hundred dollars, any day, in San Francisco," added Tim O'Rooney. "It'll pay yez to carry it there."
"It is just the thing to wrap around us when we lie down to sleep."
"Yis, if ye wraps up in that yez'll wake up and find yersilves roasted to dith. Yez might as well crawl into an oven and bake yersilves and be done with it."
"We can then spread it on the ground, and protect ourselves from the moisture!" said Howard, who was beginning to appreciate the value of the article.
"I've saan them things before," added Tim O'Rooney. "The Apaches and Mohaws in New Mexico make 'em. It has tuk a couple of squaws the bist part of a year to do the same."
"But where is the owner? An Indian could not lose such a thing without knowing it. Why, it is a load to carry, and I should expect to lose my coat as soon as to part with this."
Of course there could be no explanation of the cause of the blanket being found where it was. It was plain that no Indian could have parted with it unknowingly, and its high value made it still more puzzling that it should have been left in such a place. It might be that the owner--some fragile Indian girl--had wearied with carrying it, and had thrown it down for a warrior friend of hers to pick up and take to its destination for her.